Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two by John TiffanyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Slightly conflicted about this. The beginning feels very disjointed, as if they're trying to squeeze in too much backstory. It skips through the years fairly quickly--skims, rather. It's really rather hit or miss. And then it somehow settles into the meat of the story midway through and gets better.
The Cursed Child supposedly centres on Albus Severus Potter, Harry Potter's middle child. He's trying to live up to his father's reputation, to the ease with which his older brother James is gliding through Hogwarts, whilst he is struggling with magic and with the shame of being a Potter in Slytherin. His only friend is Draco Malfoy's only son, Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius initially feels mostly like comic relief, but midway through, the play switches up and he carries the story instead.
These two boys, both failing to live up to their family names, try to change the course of personal history but instead find themselves facing choices that may very well destroy the whole wizarding world, undoing everything Harry Potter had done in the original series. This time though, it's not so much a story of the expectations that lie on the shoulders of one boy because of prophecy than it is an exploration of friendship and loyalty and how that changes people.
Reading the first bit of it a second time and working out the staging in my head made it fit together better though, so maybe by the time I finish the second read, it'll start working in my head. (Or maybe I should just go try to see the show.)
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment